I don’t care for an ability that serves as a one-shot Hail Mary. It’s using up a slot that I’d rather use for something that can be used repeatedly and helpfully. And then if I do use it and succeed it feels overpowered. So it’s bad both ways; it feels a bit like I’m gimped and then suddenly I’m overpowered. I prefer the opposite; an ability that I can get a lot of use out of that’s balanced.

I understand wanting to include something like this for variety. Not everything needs to be a versatile utility power you frequently rely on like Telekinesis or Healing. But I just don’t personally have interest in a power like this. To me it feels like dragging around a rocket launcher everywhere that weighs you down as dead weight until you fire it off, blowing something to smithereens, and then it’s useless again until you can get another rocket.

I will say I like Earthquake though. It’s set up in such a way that it’s not a combat power to dominate a fight, it’s more of a power to drive along the plot of an adventure. So it (ironically?) feels less disruptive. Powers like that are fun and cool.

Again, just my personal preference. I won’t argue that it’s objectively “bad” to have a power like Lightning Strike included in the game. I just don’t care for it.

I don’t care for an ability that serves as a one-shot Hail Mary. It’s using up a slot that I’d rather use for something that can be used repeatedly and helpfully. And then if I do use it and succeed it feels overpowered. So it’s bad both ways; it feels a bit like I’m gimped and then suddenly I’m overpowered. I prefer the opposite; an ability that I can get a lot of use out of that’s balanced.

I understand wanting to include something like this for variety. Not everything needs to be a versatile utility power you frequently rely on like Telekinesis or Healing. But I just don’t personally have interest in a power like this. To me it feels like dragging around a rocket launcher everywhere that weighs you down as dead weight until you fire it off, blowing something to smithereens, and then it’s useless again until you can get another rocket.

I will say I like Earthquake though. It’s set up in such a way that it’s not a combat power to dominate a fight, it’s more of a power to drive along the plot of an adventure. So it (ironically?) feels less disruptive. Powers like that are fun and cool.

Again, just my personal preference. I won’t argue that it’s objectively “bad” to have a power like Lightning Strike included in the game. I just don’t care for it.

Just want to be clear on this understanding. You can invoke lightning strike again in the next scene (not act), so it's not like a rocket launcher needing a rocket at all.

I mean it's fine if you're someone who rather has weaker abilities that are frequently usable, rather than someone who likes an Alpha strike, but I just want to ensure that there's not an assumption there that's incorrect.

I have a mage with the Lightning spell, and I've actually been thinking about giving her Faith in part so that she could get Lightning Strike -- essentially she'd be infusing her spell with Light, like, once in a while, and I do like that concept. Outside of that concept, though, it's hard to justify the cost of it.. there are probably better Miracles for someone who can already throw Lightning.

In most games I think I'd agree with Atama, but a lot of combat in Eternity works around setting up big strikes. Yes, taking Lightning Strike will definitely set you up as the focal point for a boss attack, but it's far from the only path to that in the game. For Bulletsmiths, that's more or less their whole concept. Sniper and Wealthy puts you right into the same range, especially if you also have Trademark Weapon, which you probably will. It's a heavier Perk investment, and you'll want the high Skill to back it up anyway, but you also get other benefits from it and you can pull that every other round. Really, I think a team is expected to have one or two boss-killers in the group, and when they're ready to go, you make it a team effort by making sure they have the right cards and that their target is as Vulnerable as you can get them.

And since most of the targets these things are meant for can Soak, what you often end up doing is just trading off Possibilities anyway. Given that, I don't think it's OP when it applies, and given that you get another Miracle with it, it seems fair that it lets you contribute this way once in every battle. You can very likely take out an Ord, finish off a boss who has already been worn down, or drain a couple of Possibilities from one your team is still working on, and then you go back to whatever you usually do in a battle.

The cyberpriest in my group took it. He's always getting after me on allowing it work indoors. Maybe I'm reading the fluff too literally, but I never allowed it indoors before. I suppose this is a great thread for clarifying that.

Though considering how limited it is already, I suppose a lightning strike from a nearby electrical outlet wouldn't be too weird.

I had a player with a mage-priest. He loved lightning strike as a big cannon and used his spells for his other attacks. I can see it as a nice tool for someone who isn't just all miracles, like a warrior priest, or the mage-priest above, who has other means for consistent damage.